I have had my S/G rebuilt. I have a VR that I bought used, but was told that the tractor it came off of charged fine. Could someone point me in the right direction as to what to check next? I am green at this so any info will be appreciated!

There is one coil for starting and one for charging in the S/G. to check the S/G ground the field wire with the engine running about mid throttle and the RPM's will drop. if that happens it's either connections or the VR(I ran my one tractor almost 2 years with the wires wrong on the S/G). with it still running disconnect the + lead of the battery and if it dies it's usually the VR(if the wiring is wrong you will probably ruin a new VR). There are VR's that have different locations for the wires and they get hooked up wrong

cubcadetfan2011 wrote:is there a chance that the batt and the field terminals on the vr are backwards? right now the it goes field, gen, batt top to bottom and I have the wiring hooked up accordingly.

If I switch the field and batt wires, will that damage anything if the terminals are labled correctly?

Eugene wrote:Did you lable each wire with the letter stamped on the old regulator's terminals. The terminal location are not always the in the same location.

wdeturck wrote:There are VR's that have different locations for the wires and they get hooked up wrong

The wiring diagram has color coded each wire leading to the voltage regulator. Check to see that the wire color leads to the correct marked VR terminal. The VR has a mark (letter) on each terminal indicating which wire is attached to it. The mark is frequently hidden by the screw and attaching clip.

In the event the colors are not apparent you can use a multimeter to trace each wire attached to the VR.

Check the solenoid too where all the wires connect on the positive side post to make sure there all clean and making good contact. I also use a Ohm meter to checkout all the wires so there making good contact and there is no broken wires. Are the wires clean on the amp gauge?

But hold on first i would;

You may have to clean the contacts in the VR. I use a fine grit sand paper to clean them and after a few passes i turn the sand paper around and go thru the points again to remove the grit that may get stuck in the contacts that can keep them from contacting. The paper actually removes the grit if there is any left on the contact faces. Once the VR contacts are clean your good to go.

I believe there is a ground wire on the cub cadet starter housing on the lower securing bolt. Make sure its connected from the starter to the frame too. The VR also has a ground connection too.

When there not charging i clean every connection and check for broken or split wires. Look around the frame near the engine i seen wires split from the vibration between the engine and the frame.

I'm technically misunderstood at times i guess its been this way my whole life so why should it change now.

cubcadetfan2011 wrote:not 100% sure the VR came off of another 104. How can I tell? the VR I have has three terminals, one labeled batt, one Gen and one feild.

I haven't got a clue, other than my previous suggestion. "Engine Management Illustrated Parts Guide" has 18 pages of voltage regulators. Give or take a few, there are several hundred with the same terminals.

Do you have the VR ground wire hooked up? The service manual has instructions for cleaning points and adjusting the gaps.

Eugene wrote:Suggest taking the regulator to a repair shop or auto parts store for identification and testing.

Landreo wrote:What tractor did the regulator come from? There are two basic types and the two types are not interchangeable. That may be the problem.